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Michael Gordon Oldfield was born in Reading on the 15th May, 1953, where he also went to school and played in local folk clubs as a teenager. When he was 13, his parents moved to Essex, shortly after which he moved out following a disagreement with his parents about his long hair.
Mike was 15 when he and sister Sally started the folk duo The Sallyangie. Two singles, "Lady go lightly" and "Two Ships" and an album "Children of The Sun" were released before going on a national tour. The project only had limited success, resulting in its downfall. In 1968, almost immediately after that, Mike formed the folk group Barefoot which also faded away within a year. Barefoot was a band Mike and his brother Terry set up, during which time they wrote a song with grunting lyrics which were to become the Piltdown Man section of Tubular Bells in later years.
In 1969, Mike joined Kevin Ayers and the Whole World as guitarist. The band featured, as well as Kevin himself, David Bedford, who Mike was to often to work keenly together with in the following years. Mike worked on the albums "Shooting at the Moon", "Whatevershebringswesing", "Confessions of Dr. Dream and other stories" and "June, 1, 1974" (live) as well as appearing on the compilation LP's "The Kevin Ayers Collection" and "Odd Ditties". The Whole World split in 1971, although Ayers continued with other musicians.
 Mike was already thinking about Tubular Bells in 1970, whilst still with the Whole World and a rough demo was ready by 1972, after many unsocial hours at the Abbey Road studios. Mike was so pleased with the result that he sent copies to all the major record companies, all of which rejected it as uncommercial ... until he came upon Richard Branson, who ran a chain of budget price record stores. Richard was very impressed, but didn't have the resources to fund its release.
A year later, he decided to launch the record label and rang Mike, expecting him to have already sold "Tubular Bells" to another record company. Instead, Mike was second reserve guitarist in the musical "Hair" and thoroughly depressed. Richard immediately drew up a contract with Mike, copied from that of a session musician, Sandy Denny, because neither knew what a recording contract should contain!
It was Tom Newman who suggested to Richard that they build a recording studio, for which they borrowed £25,000 and bought The Manor near Oxford. A squash court was converted to a studio, but they couldn't get permission to use it at night. Because of a neighbour who kept ringing the police, they took it in turns to sit at the gate and press an alarm button to alert the studio. By the time the police arrived, everyone was in the kitchen drinking coffee! After a while the police got fed up and didn't bother any more!
Mike moved into the Manor for the next year, learning how to be engineer and producer, whilst making "Tubular Bells", which they then took to the Cannes music festival together with a jam session called "Manor Live", featuring Elkie Brooks. Executives from many record companies listened to them, showing greet interest in "Manor live", which was completely forgettable in the long term run of things, but not in "Tubular Bells".
The only company to show any interest was the American Mercury records, who said they'd be interested if Mike put vocals to it, so Richard decided they weren't getting anywhere and after 2 days put a sign on their stand: "VIRGIN RECORDS - GONE SKIING". The only way forward was to release "Tubular Bells" themselves.
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Original release: 1973
Written by Mike Oldfield and featuring Steve Broughton, Mundy Ellis, Jon Field, Lindsay Cooper, Vivian Stanshall and the Manor Choir (Mike, Tom Newman and Simon Heyworth)
Produced and Engineered by Tom Newman, Simon Heyworth and Mike Oldfield
Recorded at The Manor Autumn 1972 - Spring 1973
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Original release: 1974
'Hergest Ridge' was Oldfield's quieter, less scattershot follow-up to 'Tubular Bells'. The album reached number one in the UK album charts when it was released but, a week later, was displaced by its predecessor, which had spent almost a year climbing up the charts.
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Original release: 1975
Ommadawn continued in a similar though somewhat more ambitious and less portentous vein. Including the African percussion group Jabula and Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains on uilleann pipes, this is Oldfield's most easily palatable release. Oldfield plays almost 20 instruments here. The two instrumental pieces that make up nearly the entire album are similar to ambient music in intent and effect, with an almost constant recycling of themes. The album closes with "On Horseback," a classic piece of English whimsy.
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Original release: 1978
Mike Laird - Trumpet
Pierre Moerlen - Drums and Vibraphones on Part 4
Maddy Prior - Vocals
Sally Oldfield - Vocals
Sebastian Bell - Flutes
Terry Oldfield - Flutes
Jabula - African drums
The Queen's college girls choir
Produced and Engineered by Mike Oldfield
Recorded at Througham December 1977 - September 1978
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Recorded in 1979 at the Wembley Conference Centre as part of the exposed tour, this DVD contains the full gig. For this tour, a 50 piece ensemble orchestra were used and with a road crew of 25 requiring 3 articulated trucks to transport the shows hardware, it was indeed a spectacular show. Newly re-mastered and digitally enhanced the audio on the release is of the highest quality and there is multi angle viewing options allowing the viewer a unique insight into the time when Oldfield was at the peak of his musical and visual abilities serving up spectacular show after spectacular show.
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Original release: 1979
1. Platinum Part One (Airborne)
2. Platinum Part Two (Platinum)
3. Platinum Part Three (Charleston)
4. Platinum Part Four (North Star)
5. Woodhenge
6. Sally/Into Wonderland
7. Punkadiddle
8. I got Rhythm
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Original release: 1980
1. Taurus 1
2. Sheba
3. Conflict
4. Arrival
5. Wonderful Land
6. Mirage
7. QE2
8. Celt
9. Molly
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Original release: 1982
1. Taurus 2
2. Family Man
3. Orabidoo
4. Mount Teidi
5. Five Miles Out
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Original release: 1983
1. Crises
2. Moonlight Shadow
3. In High Places
4. Foreign Affair
5. Taurus III
6. Shadow on the Wall
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Released: 1984
1. To France
2. Poison Arrows
3. Crystal Gazing
4. Tricks Of The Light
5. Discovery
6. Talk about your life
7. Saved by a bell
8. The Lake
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Released: 1984
This is the soundtrack to the film of the same name (produced by David Puttnam and directed by Roland Joffe), the story of a pair of journalists, one American, one Cambodian, in Cambodia during the reign of Pol Pot's regime.
1. Pran's Theme
2. Requiem for a City
3. Evacuation
4. Pran's Theme 2
5. Capture
6. Execution
7. Bad News
8. Pran's Departure
9. Worksite
10. The Year Zero
11. Bloodsucking
12. The Year Zero 2
13. Pran's Escape/The Killing Fields
14. The Trek
15. The Boy's Burial/Pran Sees the Red Cross
16. Good News
17. Étude
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Released: 1987
1. The Wind Chimes
2. Islands
3. Flying Start
4. North Point
5. Magic Touch
6. The Time has Come
7. When the Nights on Fire
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Released: 1989
1. Holy
2. Hostage
3. Far Country
4. Innocent
5. Runaway Son
6. See the Light
7. Earth Moving
8. Blue Night
9. Nothing but/Bridge to Paradise
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Released: 1990
You don't play this album as background music while you eat dinner or read a book or pay the bills; you put this album on, sit down and LISTEN to it - closely (headphones and closed eyes highly recommended!). When the album is finished, you feel you've been on a journey and have just returned, and have some things to think about.
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Released: April 1991
1. Make Make
2. No Dream
3. Mr. Shame
4. Gimme Back
5. Heaven's Open
6. Music from the Balcony
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Released 1992
1. Sentinel
2. Dark Star
3. Clear Light
4. Blue Saloon
5. Sunjammer
6. Red Dawn
7. The Bell
8. Weightless
9. The Great Plain
10. Sunset Door
11. Tattoo
12. Altered State
13. Maya Gold
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Released 1994
1. In the Beginning
2. Let There Be Light
3. Supernova
4. Magellan
5. First Landing
6. Oceania
7. Only Time Will Tell
8. Prayer for the Earth
9. Lament for Atlantis
10. Chamber
11. Hibernaculum
12. Tubular World
13. Shining Ones
14. Crystal Clear
15. Sunken Forest
16. Ascension
17. New Beginning
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Released 1996
1. The Song Of The Sun
2. Celtic Rain
3. The Hero
4. Woman Of Ireland
5. The Voyager
6. She Moves Through The Fair
7. Dark Island
8. Wild Goose Flaps Its Wings
9. Flowers Of The Forest
10. Mont St. Michel
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Release 1998
1. The Source Of Secrets
2. The Watchful Eye
3. Jewel In The Crown
4. Outcast
5. Serpent Dream
6. The Inner Child
7. Man In The Rain
8. The Top Of The Morning
9. Moonwatch
10. Secrets
11. Far Above The Clouds
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Release 1999
1. Muse
2. Cochise
3. Embers
4. Summit Day
5. Out of Sight
6. B. Blues
7. Four Winds
8. Enigmatism
9. Out of Mind
10. From the Ashes
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Release 1999
1. Peace On Earth
2. Pacha Mama
3. Santa Maria
4. Sunlight Shining Through Cloud
5. The Doge's Palace
6. Lake Constance
7. Mastermind
8. Broad Sunlit Uplands
9. Liberation
10. Amber Light
11. The Millennium Bell
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Release 2002
1. Misty
2. No Man's Land
3. Return to the Origin
4. Landfall
5. Viper
6. Turtle Island
7. To Be Free
8. Firefly
9. Tr3s Lunas
10. Day Dream
11. Thou Art In Heaven
12. Sirius
13. No Man's Land Reprise
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